More damaging headlines for Bristol timeshare company Seasons Holidays

Seasons Holidays accused of underhand tactics at second UK resort.  First Slaley Hall, now Clowance Estate & Country Club

Pattern of behaviour?

Seasons Holidays were covered by Radio 4's award winning consumer program You & Yours recently when desperate members of Northumbrian resort Slaley Hall accused the Bristol timeshare firm of trying to force members to not only give up their beloved weeks but also pay for the privilege of doing so.   Some Slaley Hall members believe that Seasons want their weeks back so that they can profit from the increased demand for quality UK accommodation during the pandemic.  The members' Facebook page can be found here.

Clowance Estate & Country Club members Andrew and Wendy Wilkinson (65 and 68) insist that Seasons also used underhand tactics to bar them from accessing the leisure facilities they were promised access to when they signed up 30 years ago.

Bought for the facilities

"We paid a fortune for a single week in a studio," explains shop owner and property developer Andrew.  "It was £25,000.  Many times the going rate for equivalent timeshares.  The appeal to us was that all of our family were allowed to use the leisure facilities all year round, as we lived a couple of hundred meters from Clowance.  We never use our accommodation week, which is of little interest to us."

Clowance Estate & Country Club has a pool, gym, "enchanted wood" walk, trout fishing lake and golf.  "I loved the idea of our kids being able to do healthy, fun outdoor activities in a safe environment," adds Wendy.  "It was a scary amount of money, and it was a big decision.  We had to take a loan out over ten years."

Seasons Holidays

Seasons took over in 2010.and they were issued a new contract from Seasons, word for word the same as the old contract but now with the Seasons logo at the top.  "Nothing changed at this point," says Andrew.  "We could still use the place but as each of our four children reached 18, they were no longer allowed use of the facilities.  We argued, but to no avail and we were considering giving up the membership for a while.  However Wendy was diagnosed with cancer in 2011, and we found that swimming in the pool helped with her recovery."

In 2016, Seasons contacted the couple with a fantastic offer.  "They told us that if we would relinquish our fixed week to them in exchange for a floating week, our whole extended family could have access year round to the facilities again," says Wendy.  "That blew our socks off.  I must have asked them a hundred times:  'our whole family?  All four kids?  All eleven grandchildren?  Cousins?  Nephews?  Nieces?' They confirmed it over and over again.  We signed the paperwork and went ahead."

"They never gave us a copy of the contract," says Andrew.  "They told me we would get it in the post, but they didn't.  I called many times but it was one excuse after another.  In the end, as we had no problems accessing the facilities as promised, I stopped chasing that contract."

Access denied

Then one day in 2020 Seasons blocked access to everyone but Andrew and Wendy themselves.  "Our son wanted to take our granddaughter swimming and the receptionist told him the rules had changed," says Wendy.   "We explained about the 'whole family' access we were promised in exchange for giving up our fixed week, but were advised to check our new contract, which of course they had never seen fit to give us a copy of.  We were told we would have to pay for each family member we added to our facilities access, and there would be a maximum of two."

"We feel like we have been cheated.  We made a huge financial commitment all those years ago, and we deserve to have what we sacrificed for.

Financial Ombudsman

"Most people in our position would have no choice but to accept the situation, but we are lucky in that we have a secret witness.  Our son actually worked for Seasons and was trained to make this kind of deal where the members were promised conditions verbally, while either being given a contract that didn't match, or not being given a copy at all.  He had no idea at the time about our situation but when we told him, he immediately confirmed that this was deliberate policy

"We have a case lodged with the Ombudsman and have been told that this could go badly for Seasons thanks to our star witness."

Timeshare consumer Association

Daniel Keating from the Timeshare Consumer Association released the following statement:  "Timeshare companies are struggling around the world and the business may be reaching its natural end.  The hard truth is that it is no longer an appealing way to holiday.  It requires initial investment, the annual expenses are at least as much as regular hotel stays, the standards are no better because timeshare resorts now take regular holiday bookings and the flexibility of timeshare is always going to be systemically inferior than just booking through Expedia and the like.

"The lack of revenue from new members signing up seems to be forcing resorts into short sighted cash grabs which are unfair on members.  This might fix revenue problems in the short term, but as a strategy it can only speed up the demise of already embattled industry.  Several of the biggest and most successful timeshare companies have recently closed their sales operations for good, and we expect, thanks to COVID that the remaining ones may well follow suit.

"Anyone facing unfair treatment from a timeshare club or related industry, please get in touch with us on the contact details below for free, impartial advice and help."